Professor McGonagall walked beside the two, watching the intimate interaction between the person and the cat, a rare, slight curve appearing at the corners of her stern mouth.
She said nothing, only stopping at the fork leading to the Hospital Wing and nodding to Hermione.
"Go on, Miss Granger. Ensure Miss Lia gets the best rest possible."
Professor McGonagall turned her gaze toward another corridor leading to the Headmasters Office, her voice returning to its usual sternness. "As for me, I must go. There are things Albus needs to know immediately so he can be prepared."
Hermione understood that the subsequent fallout of the "staged incident" they had orchestrated was only just beginning to ferment.
A few days later, under Hermione's careful arrangement, the secret meetings of the D.A. officially moved from the noisy Hogs Head Inn to a more secluded and legendary location—the Room of Requirement.
"Wow..."
When Harry led the last group of members through the wall disguised as a tapestry, everyone was stunned by the sight before them.
It was no longer the massive cat playground from before, but a spacious, brightly lit professional training ground.
Soft, thick mats covered the floor, and over a dozen training dummies that could automatically dodge were lined up neatly against the walls.
There was even a whole row of tall bookshelves filled with advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts texts that Hermione had personally selected, duplicated, and annotated with key points.
"Hermione, you're a genius!" Ron gaped, looking at everything in shock.
"The Room of Requirement provides everything according to the user's needs."
Hermione was standing by the wall at the entrance, meticulously carving something with the tip of her wand. She explained without looking back, "I just focused very, very hard on 'an absolutely safe, fully equipped secret training base that can block all prying eyes'."
As she made the final stroke, the brick patterns on the wall rippled slightly, as if merging into invisible water, before returning to their original state with no trace of magic left behind.
"This is an ancient rune combination found in the books from Black Manor—a composite 'Sight-unseen Charm' and 'Intent-blocking Charm'."
Hermione brushed the dust off her hands and looked at her masterpiece with satisfaction.
"Now, even if someone happens to walk past here, in their eyes, this will only be an unremarkable wall or a broom closet for storing junk.
Unless they have the exact same purpose as us—'needing a secret training base to resist Umbridge'—they will never be able to enter."
The upgraded security measures allowed everyone to breathe a sigh of relief.
The training officially began.
Today's theme was the ultimate manifestation of a Wizard's willpower and emotional strength—the Patronus Charm.
"Remember, you must tap into your happiest, most powerful positive emotions!" Harry stood in the center of the field, instructing loudly. "Don't hesitate; let that happiness fill your entire soul!"
For a moment, silver light flickered throughout the training ground.
Hermione's lifelike Lia the Cat Patronus paced gracefully through the air, occasionally chasing its own tail of light playfully.
Ron's Jack Russell Terrier Patronus ran excitedly around the field, while Ginny's horse Patronus reared and neighed, full of vitality.
However, in a corner of the field, Neville Longbottom was still unable to succeed.
He gripped his wand tightly, sweat beads covering his forehead, and his face filled with painful struggle. The hollow, vacant stares of his parents in St Mungo's Hospital were like an inescapable nightmare, tightly entwining his soul.
"Ex... Expecto Patronum..."
He shouted with all his might, but the tip of his wand could only produce a few weak wisps of silver smoke that threatened to vanish at any moment.
"No... I can't... I can't remember..." Neville knelt on the ground in pain, his wand slipping from his trembling hand as he clutched his head in despair.
The surrounding noise seemed isolated from him.
Lia was lazily sweeping the floor with her tail when Neville's thick, unshakeable aura of pain pricked her senses.
She stopped her movements and turned her sky-blue eyes toward the boy curled up in the corner.
The Eye of Truth passive triggered.
She saw it.
She saw Neville's trembling soul, tightly bound by countless black, twisted thorns.
Each thorn reflected the tragic state of his parents being tortured by the Crucio curse and his own silhouette returning in disappointment time and again from St Mungo's Hospital.
At that moment, Lia seemed to smell her own scent on him.
Lia suddenly felt confused.
She seemed to have been hit by a curse like this once before. When was it?
She couldn't remember clearly.
It was as if a page had been torn from her memory, leaving only an instinctive fear of that pain deep within her soul.
Lia could no longer remember.
Hermione had said that Neville was "our friend," and friends should help each other.
This was the first time she had felt such strong empathy for someone other than Hermione.
It wasn't superior sympathy or cheap pity.
It was a shared feeling of "I know how much you hurt."
She stood up quietly and, with an elegant feline gait, walked through the crowd to Neville's side.
Neville felt something soft touch the back of his hand. He looked up to see the snow-white Ragdoll Cat sitting quietly before him, watching him with eyes as pure as sapphires.
Lia didn't speak; she only raised a furry paw and gently, tenderly patted his clenched fist.
Then, she closed her eyes.
In her world, she summoned all her memories.
Not the tragic deaths, but every single moment Hermione had pulled her into an embrace.
The warmth of Hermione's fingertips, the pleasant scent of books on her, and the melting warmth that made her feel so safe when Hermione gently stroked the back of her neck.
That was her "anchor."
Her eternal harbor.
Using the Eye of Truth, she analyzed this "absolute warmth" and "eternal peace" into the purest energy.
Then, like sharing a most precious candy, she passed it through the paw resting on the back of Neville's hand.
An unprecedented flood, like the warm sun of early spring, instantly surged into Neville's cold heart!
That warm current was so powerful and pure that it instantly dispersed all the painful memories entangling him.
The screams of the Crucio curse vanished.
The white ward of St Mungo's blurred.
In their place were images he had never dared to hope for—
He saw himself as a very, very small child, hearing his father's hearty laughter as he held him high above his head, the sunlight on his father's face so brilliant.
He saw his mother's eyes, gentle as water, as she gave him a goodnight kiss, and the faint scent of flowers in her hair.
He even remembered his grandmother, the old woman who was always strict with him. Once, after he had broken a precious vase left by his grandfather, she hadn't scolded him but had clumsily used a Transfiguration spell to turn the shards into a swarm of flying golden butterflies to comfort his terrified self.
So... so I have so many happy memories too!
An unprecedented light erupted in Neville's eyes.
He grabbed his wand, stood up abruptly, and shouted from his soul toward the front with all his strength:
"Expecto Patronum!!!"
"Roar—!!!"
An echoing roar shook the entire Room of Requirement!
A complete Porcupine Patronus, composed of the most brilliant silver light, charged out from the tip of his wand!
It was massive, with every quill shimmering with powerful, solid magic. It ran a great circle around the training ground with majestic flair, even provocatively knocking over a training dummy before turning into a sky full of silver light and slowly dissipating.
The entire training ground was deathly silent.
Everyone stared dumbfounded at Neville, then at the quiet white cat yawning by his feet.
What happened? Lia just touched him?
After a brief silence, the training ground erupted in thunderous cheers and applause!
Although no one understood the principle, it was certain that the miraculous Lia had done something amazing again!
During a break in training.
Lia refused all the students who wanted to touch her for "good luck" and found a nice spot in a corner of the room.
It was a cat bed that the Room of Requirement had automatically generated after sensing her fatigue, piled with soft cashmere blankets and a few old sofa cushions—warm, secluded, and comfortable.
That "sharing" of energy just now had been a huge drain on her, as if she had given away half of her most precious possession.
She curled up in the bed and soon fell into a deep sleep, the tip of her snow-white tail twitching unconsciously.
Hermione, holding a book, quietly walked over.
She didn't disturb Lia's sleep, but simply sat down next to the bed, leaning against the cushions. She opened her book, but her gaze remained fixed on Lia's peaceful sleeping face.
Her fingers unconsciously reached out and gently wound around the furry tip of Lia's tail, once, then again, her movements as soft as if she were touching the most precious treasure.
Sunlight spilled from the high windows of the Room of Requirement, enveloping them in a serene and warm glow.
Harry and Ron watched this scene from a distance.
"Seriously," Ron lowered his voice, his face full of disbelief.
"Look at them... they're so harmonious it's unreal. Sometimes I even feel like they're... well, like each other's other half."
Harry nodded in agreement.
The image was so harmonious it seemed to form a world of its own. A girl, a cat, a book, a patch of sunlight.
Like a... incredibly warm and harmonious family.
Just then—
"Pop!"
A sharp, ear-piercing crack shattered all the silence in the room like a thunderclap.
Dobby the House-elf appeared out of thin air in the middle of the training ground.
On his head, he ridiculously wore every single colorful hat Hermione had knitted for him, stacked up like a bizarre pagoda.
His massive tennis-ball eyes were filled with extreme panic.
"Mr. Harry Potter!" Dobby let out a shrill, trembling cry, almost on the verge of tears. "Run! You must run!"
"Madam Umbridge knows! She knows about this place! She's coming to the seventh floor with the Inquisitorial Squad! They used a Snitch Jinx! Dobby heard them say... they'll be here any second!"
Dobby's voice was like a bucket of ice water poured over everyone's heads.
"Someone snitched!"
Hermione's face instantly turned grim. She slammed her book shut and immediately issued a command:
"Everyone! Evacuate through the secret passage over there! Fast! Don't take anything!"
The room instantly fell into chaos.
Students surged in panic toward the other escape route Hermione had pre-planned.
But Lia didn't run; instead, she stayed where she was with a thoughtful expression.
In the midst of the chaos, the parchment Hermione had enchanted, bearing the signatures of all D.A. members, slipped quietly from its hook due to the vibration of the walls.
It drifted down, landing on the empty floor.
A few seconds later.
"Bang!"
The wall at the entrance of the Room of Requirement was blown open by a powerful surge of magic.
Umbridge walked in with a sneer, followed by Malfoy and his cronies.
She immediately spotted the conspicuous parchment on the floor, walked over triumphantly, and bent down to pick it up.
On the parchment, the words "D.A. (Dumbledore's Army)" stood out glaringly under the magical lights.
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[Here's a Cat-girl hug for you all!]
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